they are life size and come with weapons and shields. They are 500 years older than the terracotta warriors. It took 8 years to repair 25 of the 33 warriors. They were smashed to bits by invading Carthaginians. It’s not unusual for invaders to destroy anything they think is a symbol of power, religion or rank from those they defeat. They were exceptionally thorough though, the diggers found some 5000 bits. That’s a hell of a jigsaw puzzle.
At that time only two of the warriors were repaired, with the rest being stored at a museum locally. Finally work began by conservators in ‘04 to fix the rest. They will be on display at Sardinia’s Cagliari Museum. That’s in Central Sardinia, if you’re planning to go there. Source: The Independent, Feb 17 2012.
Lost Archaeology
A couple of example of archaeology that has been destroyed due to building before excavation. First, Istanbul, Turkey. Workers bulldozed ancient ruins at Ïnönü Stadium to make way for a new football stadium. Lost treasures include a vaultFragments were found in the 70s ed ceiling. The site was supposed to but the site wasn’t properly exca- have been recorded but the buildvated until the early 80s by the ers got in first and destroyed the Italian archaeologist Carlo Troncheti. lot. Such action is of course illegal 51